


Reconfigurations

by maat_seshat



Category: Honor Harrington Series - David Weber
Genre: Gen, Talbott Quadrant, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-02 08:54:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2806748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maat_seshat/pseuds/maat_seshat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A brief tour of (some of) the work being done on Dresden.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reconfigurations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rose_To_Fall](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rose_To_Fall/gifts).



> Wedged into _Storm from the Shadows_ , Chapter 37, at the tail end of Mike's series of port visits to Tillerman, Talbott, Scarlet, Marian, and Dresden.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

_I like these people,_ Mike thought with enough surprise to feel slightly guilty. She liked most of the Talbotters she'd met thus far, but after the mess of attempted corruption that she'd had to steer clear of confronting in Marian, she hadn't been in the best frame of mind for engaging with local government projects.

Fortunately, the members of Dresden's pilot program for LAC-based training had changed her mood before she had put any feet in her mouth.

"We've all spent plenty of time in here, ma'am," the commander assigned as her tour guide told her as they looked into one of the central conference rooms on the station that housed the infrastructure to coordinate the training programs aboard the just-arrived LAC squadron. It was currently configured as an unfamiliar hybrid of a briefing room and a scientific conference hall, with portable holo-generators and poster-style screens ringing a U-shaped table. Dozens of people milled around the table, the majority focused on discussing individual posters, though some were clearly pulling in ideas from all over the room. Most were in Dresden grey, but she saw a smattering of Rembrandt blue, as well as what might be red from either Scarlet or San Miguel and black that could be anything; all she could say was that it wasn't the style of the RMN. "The anti-piracy working group is in there now, but all officers and a lot of enlisted are assigned to some group that keeps us busy when we're not working directly with the hardware."

"So which group are you attached to, Commander Eilers?" Mike turned away from the open door before anyone saw and decided they needed to salute her presence. Veronica Eilers took the hint and kept them walking, though Mike noticed with approval that Gwen Archer had slowed his pace a bit. If anyone _had_ spotted them, he would be a much more approachable target.

Commander Eilers smiled. "The engineer training program. As far as I know, we're the first in the Quadrant to be thinking about how to scale up the training programs for everyone, enlisted and commissioned, who wants to go into an engineering-heavy track, which brings us to the differences in our educational systems, both within the Quadrant and between us and Old Manticore. We think we're beginning to get a handle on what to truly consider foundational and what to plan to learn on the job, and thus far that's been borne out by our exercises with the new LAC hardware, though we've only had them for a few weeks."

"Congratulations, Commander!" Mike said, seeing the pride in Eilers' brown eyes. Well-deserved pride, too. "That's an incredible amount of progress over such a short time." 

Eilers' smile turned into a genuine grin for just a moment. "We've been eagerly anticipating getting our hands on actual LAC hardware, and the carrot has been that the teams that come up with the best plans get first crack at onboard simulations."

Mike laughed. "And where did your team fall on that?"

Eilers' face was a study in disappointment. "Only third, ma'am," she admitted, "but we were beaten out by tactical training and anti-piracy, and I'm fairly sure that's because the judges were biased." The twinkle in her eyes was worthy of Victoria Armstrong, a far cry from her formal demeanor at the start of this tour.

"That does happen," Mike commiserated, "especially when so many of the judges come from the tactical track." She frowned apologetically. "I'm afraid I may even have to include myself in that."

"Oh, no, ma'am, not at all!" Eilers said quickly. "I'm sure you wouldn't." She paused thoughtfully. "In fact, I think one of the crews on my team, mostly older enlisted, are running through a pre-launch simulation now. It won't be as good anything actually involving the ships, but would you like to go see?"

Mike gestured a broad invitation. "Lead the way, Commander."

She fell into step beside Eilers, shortening her stride slightly to accommodate the shorter woman, and listened to the murmur of Gwen's voice in conversation with another behind her. Apparently someone had taken him up on his unspoken invitation to talk.

"...surprised to see so many Rembrandters here as part of your program," Gwen said.

Mike heard amusement in the Dresden-accented voice as its owner replied. "Surprised we're allowing them in or that they're bothering to come?" Mike resisted the urge to shake her head ruefully. Somehow, her flag lieutenant was developing a positive gift for inviting confidences from Dresdeners. She'd have to sound him out on that. The other's voice became loud enough to distinguish words again. "...been a wonderful help, actually. Their frigates can play hyper-capable opponents in exercises, and they're just as eager to get hands-on time with the new LACs, since Rembrandt is farther down the priority list for them."

"This way, ma'am," Eilers said softly, turning her down a side corridor. Mike couldn't tell if she'd been able to hear Gwen's conversation with the--she glanced over her shoulder briefly--lieutenant behind them, much less what she might think about it. She set that aside and focused on asking about details of their current training program. Commander Eilers was right that technical education, more than tactical training or even equipment usage, was the primary worry of those who wanted Talbotters in RMN uniform, and Mike wondered how much Admiral Khumalo and Baroness Medusa had heard about these plans. If Dresden's naval forces had their way, the delay in getting their people up to speed would be much, much shorter than anyone on Manticore had been assuming. How many other systems were making equal progress, and she just hadn't met any Commander Veronica Eilerses to tell her about it?

"The cooperation here has been inspiring," Gwen was saying behind her. 

"We're all feeling out how to relate to each other as a unit now," the lieutenant replied. "The Rembrandt Trade Union has been our framework for so long, and now we have a shot at equality in the Quadrant that Dresden, at least, is grabbing with both hands." His voice became slightly smug. "Rembrandt's latest election turned into a major Parliament shakeup, with a new party leader coming out of nowhere who worked on Dresden when he was younger and says he got out into the cities, rather than staying in the RTU offices. His wife's from San Miguel, too. They were both part of their planets' Constitutional Convention delegations, and all his talk about Rembrandt needing to be part of a Talbotter and Manticoran community rather than clinging to their position at the head of the RTU went over better than anything like it has before." The lieutenant laughed, suddenly. "Listen to me, babbling on about the details of local politics. But, yes, we've had exciting cooperation with Rembrandt, San Miguel, Redoubt, Montana, Tillerman, Scarlet, and a lot of other systems."

Mike sternly squashed both her disappointment that the lieutenant had cut himself off and her surprise at his knowledge of other systems' elections. The Rembrandt Trade Union had held power of life-or-death over millions of people on the planet; it was hardly surprising that they would keep up-to-date on the politics of its chief member systems. She could always get Cindy to put together a briefing on it back on _Artemis_. _Or,_ and she couldn't quite suppress her grin, _I can get Gwen to ask Helga about it._ That delightful thought let her give Eilers her proper attention as the commander steered her into an observation booth attached to an LAC simulator running a pre-launch simulation. The lieutenant peeled off to take his folders off on whatever errand had given him the excuse to walk with them, so Gwen crowded into the observation booth with them.

"This simulator is hooked up to two others that are set up as LACs," Eilers explained, "and the team here is responsible for organizing the 'launches' of five 'LACs'. Most of the simulations include hardware and software problems to troubleshoot before they can get the birds off."

Mike nodded her understanding, watching closely as the chief petty officer coordinating the exercise barked out orders. He looked bizarrely old to her, and she had to remind herself that many of the officers, much less enlisted personnel, had never had access to prolong. They would lose people like this CPO far too soon, but for now he was doing an excellent job, marshaling his people to handle a docking port that had been shorted out by enemy fire. Then she blinked. The petty officer 3c assigned to clean up the corrupted programming on the port was typing without a pinky finger. "Is he allergic to regen?" she blurted, and almost kicked herself.

Eilers shook her head, without apparent offense. "No. We still don't have regular enough access to regen to use it on minor injuries, and PO Hefele learned to compensate well after losing the finger in a factory accident shortly before he enlisted. We joke, sometimes, that a Navy career is safer than a factory one, especially with the word from Spindle that funding will be available to get access to regen and prolong for anyone who enlists for a substantial hitch. The funding is certainly helping to make sure that we have access to the best people." Her voice was very neutral.

"I see," Mike responded, not sure what else to say. _Not exactly a Garden of Eden,_ she reminded herself.

The simulation drew to a close with an impressive lack of major mistakes, though the occasional, swiftly controlled, winces from the commander beside her told Mike that they had made some minor ones. One simulated missile tube malfunction had required actual reprogramming on the fly, outside of the canned programs used to cover most contingencies, and Mike had been impressed by the skills of the PO 2c covering it. "Introduce me," she asked impulsively. There were only three people in this room, however many more had been connected via the other two simulators. 

Eilers looked at her with a surprised smile that swiftly became happy. "Of course, ma'am," she said, and opened the connecting door.

All three petty officers came to attention as they entered the room, relaxing only slightly when Eilers told them, "At ease." She gestured first to the CPO, "Chief Petty Officer Seifert," she introduced.

Mike held out her hand, forestalling any awkwardness over saluting someone not quite in his chain of command. "Chief Seifert," she said, "you and your people did an excellent job today, from what I saw."

"Thank you, Milady," he said. "We have a good deal to learn, but we're making progress."

"I'm sure you are and will continue to," she nodded.

"Petty Officer Milde," Eilers continued after a beat, turning to the petty officer second class. 

"Nice job with the reprogramming for that missile tube," Mike said, shaking her hand.

"Thank you, Milady," she said, then stepped back again. 

"And Petty Officer Hefele," Eilers finished the introductions with the petty officer third class who had so startled Mike.

"I liked what you did with that docking port," Mike told him.

"Thank you, ma'am," he replied. "I look forward to someday getting to practice on the docking ports of real CLACs."

Mike grinned. "Absolutely. We will make that happen, and I will look forward to seeing what _you_ make of it." She included them all in her look. "I don't want to take up much more of your time, but I did want to congratulate you all on a job well-done and wish you luck for the future."

"We're glad you stopped to watch, Milady," Seifert said.

Commander Eilers stirred beside her. "I'm sure Admiral Mittag is looking forward to meeting with you, so we probably shouldn't monopolize you," she said.

Mike nodded acknowledgment. "Of course. I'm glad we had this time." Eilers let her lead the way as they exited the room, Gwen trailing them both, and they set off for the office of the Dresden admiral in charge of the training program. Mike observed with satisfaction the relaxation in the commander beside her; always nice to give good people a chance to show just how well they were doing. It took a gutsy officer to hand a dignitary over to a subordinate for an unstaged tour, but she rather thought that Admiral Mittag's faith in his people had paid off, and she wanted to see his face when she told him so.


End file.
